New Beginnings

Well, in a couple of hours, I’ll be a Junior!

It seems a little odd that I’ve come this far and I hope that I shall get good marks in this exam, too. I haven’t been studying as hard this time around, you see. I’ve been spending a lot of my time with Maura.

Hey now! Get that filthy thought out of your mind! Maura and I are just best friends and nothing more than that! There’s no law that says a fellow can’t have a young lady for a best friend, is there?

Maura sure is nice though, isn’t she?

She’s even offered to give me a few dancing lessons, because I’m still not very good. Aparently, the waltz will be the main dance I need to learn for all those functions, parties, and such, but I’m a little bit nervous about learning it. Maura has such tiny little feet, you see, and I’m worried about crushing her toes accidentally with those big clodhoppers of mine while she’s teaching me to waltz. She’s been really good about it though, saying that we won’t move on to the waltz until I feel ready. Wasn’t that nice of her?

I think that Mother and Father would like her, too, as she’s almost as down-to-earth as they are, and my parents don’t believe in raising spoiled brats at all, and Maura definitely isn’t a spoiled brat. That’s what I like about her.

There hasn’t been much else happening around here, although Gerald is in a spot of bother after he got caught sneaking a young lady into his room after midnight, one of the things that is expressly forbidden. Gerald has been told that if he puts even one toe out of line in the next six weeks, he will be expelled. I don’t think he was too happy about that, to tell you the truth!

Anyway, I have to go to my exam now, and it’ll probably be a while before I see you all again, so I hope you and yours will have a Very Merry Christmas.

Your friend,
Nick Ryan

(And a happy Christmas from this slightly hungover blogger, too!)

Well, my friends, I decided that since I have today off, I would have myself a bit of a day out, you know. I actually surprised myself by having a really great time at the new bowling alley, the one that opened just last week.

I was the best bowler there, and I was the only one who could knock over all the little wooden thingies (I don’t know what they’re called in ‘bowl-speak’), I even brought myself a cup of espresso, and used one of those silly photo booth things.

I know the photos look rather stupid, but I like them! I hung them on the wall as soon as I got home.

Anyway, I had a great time at the bowling alley, and was about to head home again when I decided to splash out on lunch at The Lazy Pirate, which is a combination bar/restaurant.

The food was really nice, and not terribly expensive, but I don’t know what sort of rotgut they serve there, as I didn’t get a chance to try it. It was a little early in the day for and old duffer like me to be drinking amongst all the young rowdies!

Speaking of rowdies, there was a rather good punch-up while I was at the bowling alley. Aparently, Brandi stole Marissa’s husband, or perhaps it was the other way around, either way, Marissa started the fight, so that was a bit of free entertainment!

Anyway, this old boy is getting rather tired, so I’ll bid you goodnight!

As you can probably tell from the expression on my face, ‘Operation Get Ash’ has gone slightly wrong…

There I was, getting ready to go spy on Ash and my friend Sally, when Sally herself called me and said that Ash had cancelled their friendly outing at The Green Frog cafe!
“What?!? He can’t cancel!!” was, I believe what I yelled at Sally, even though it wasn’t her fault that dirty little toad didn’t fall into our trap. But, jeez, I’m so mad over that, I could spit!

I was so mad that even watching the fighters get their faces rearranged on the boxing couldn’t cheer me up! That usually works.

I was able to vent a little though, when some annoying little slimeball dressed like a llama showed up, wanting to know if he could borrow my TV.

Hah, but I showed him exactly what I thought of him! And, I have to admit, throwing a drink in someone’s face is kind of satisfying! I guess that fella will know not to mess with me! Actually, he had a really nice voice, I wonder what he looks like underneath that llama costume?

Anyway, ‘Operation Get Ash’ has been put on hold temporarily, until I can come up with a ‘Plan B’, which is irratating, but I will pay him back for rejecting me, even if it takes years, I will get him!

Anyway, I must dash, the first Junior exam is coming up!

(Yes, Katie, I am looking forward to Seasons, it’ll be nice to have a bit of weather in the ol’ Sims 2!

The name’s Watson.

Mike Watson.

I’m gonna shake this campus up, get me lotsa best friends, and become Captain Hero.

I would have liked to become a Super Spy, like my idol, but I don’t think University trains spies, so I’ll settle for Captain Hero instead. Hah! I’ll be the Coolest of the Cool, fighting the bad guys, and rescuing the fair maiden, all the while gaining the adoration of the whole city, not to mention the dough I’ll earn! There’ll be buildings, and statues, and schools named after me, and I’ll have hundreds, no, thousands, of fan clubs! I can hardly wait! It’ll be so much more exciting than taking over my dad’s building company, like my older brother is expected to do. But, since I’m not the first born son, I can do what I like. I can see it now: while Mark (my brother) is busily building houses and boring stuff like that, I’ll be flying around the city, punishing the baddies, and fun stuff like that!

Anyway, the place you can see in the picture above is where I’ll be living for at least the next year or two. I may move out and get my own place when I’ve saved up enough money, or I may just stay here until I graduate, I don’t know yet. Things have been pretty good here, although I wish the old crone in the caff would stop burning the food, I’m sure she does it on purpose.

I suppose I shoul shuffle off to my exam now, so take care.

Oh, and remember, if there’s any trouble, just call on Watson. Mike Watson.

(Well, doesn’t Mr Popularity there think he’s the cat’s pajamas? Still, at least he doesn’t have a lump on his head the size of a baseball…next time, my mother can put her own gazebo up!)

(Yes, I do hate it when they keep doing stuff they aren’t supposed to, especially checking the emails every two friggin’ seconds, that gets right up my nose.)

Honestly, you’d think they’d give us poor students a break, especially me, Josella, wouldn’t you? But noooo, I suppose that would have been too much to ask, wouldm’t it? I’ve only been here one semester, and those rotten bills just keep coming! Actually, my first lot of bills were slightly overdue because I had no money. Well, I had money, but not enough to pay those beastly bills! Luckily for me, I got my hands on a bit of grant money after I aced my exams, so I was able to pay those bills before the repoman paid me a visit (that’s my greatest fear)!

And if that wasn’t bad enough, I’d just got one set of bills paid, and another lot arrived!

If this keeps up, I’ll be bankrupt before I even get close to graduating! That is so totally unfair. I wish I’d been a scholarship student now, they don’t have to pay so many bills. Still, even though I had bills to pay, and even though I sent some of the money back to my Ma, I still have some left over, and I’m hoping to get another grant after I’ve completed my final Freshman exam, which is tomorrow morning. I must admit, I am looking forward to being a Sophomore, it’ll be one step closer to making me filthy rich.

There hasn’t been much happening around here, which has been a bit of a disappointment. I mean, I’d been led to believe that the entertainment around here consisted of watching the llama mascots having punch-ups with the rival cow mascots, and making fun of those dippy cheerleaders, but I haven’t seen anything like that yet. There doesn’t seem to be any mascots anywhere on campus. Bit of a let-down, really, but maybe things will pick up after the exams. I mean, even mascots have assignments to do, don’t they?

(’Scuse the title, I couldn’t think of anything better!)

Well, the first semester of Sophomore Year is nearly over, and we’ve had no more ‘cow on a rampage’ incidents. I guess our Dean really gave Dorian Whatshisname a good chewing out, and the word going around is that SwotnSnots expelled him. I’m not surprised really, I mean, anyone who would dress as a cow could never be a good student, unlike our llama mascots, who are required to keep their GPA’s at 3.8 at least. As to Dorian, I have no sympathy for him at all. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Our Dean, as well as banishing stupid cows, has also initiated a Drom-wide study hour all over the campus, and it has been rather handy for catching up on that last minute studying. Of course, if we have classes at the alocated time, we are permitted to skip the study hour, but other than that, it’s compulsory. Personally, I think its a good idea, but I know a lot of the other students aren’t happy with it. Apparently, they reckon it cuts into their party time, but our Dean pointed out that they were here to learn, not party. That didn’t go down to well with Gerald, who has been trying to persuade us all to go bar-hopping with him for months now. Never mind, I suppose he’ll get over it.

I’ve also been learning to dance in my spare time, but I must confess that I’m not very good, and I don’t think I ever will be. Unfortunately, dancing is a skill I will beed when I graduate. It’s unthinkable for me, I mean, I can’t just sit on the sidelines at the Charity Balls that I’ll be expected to attend. I suppose practice makes perfect, but I have to accompany Mother and Father to one such ball next month. I’m never going to be able to dance properly by then, I just know it. Besides, I don’t have a partner!

You know, I’m still a little upset at the burglar incident, and the awful fact that nobody seems to trust me. (Ah, get over it, you sulk!)

I’m going to ignore that remark. (You do that.)

Anyway, I just want to update you on what’s been happening around here lately.

First off, I had to sell my computer because I was spending way too much time on it, chatting and emailing my friends.

I was spending so much time on it that I was staying up until all sorts of crazy hourse, which meant I was sleeping late, and several times I was almost late for work. Skipping breakfast isn’t good either, but I had to do that, otherwise I would have missed the carpool, and I didn’t want that to happen. (Liar. I got rid of your computer because you kept checking your email every two damn seconds…)

Look, would you kindly keep your sarcastic comments to yourself?!? (Well, someone’s crabby today…)

Honestly, some people!

I was promoted to Resident, too, a position I managed to keep for two whole days before being promoted three more times, to Surgeon, to Specialist, to Medical Researcher. Or was it Specialist, then Surgeon… I don’t suppose it really matters a great deal, and I’m thinking that I might stay at Medical Researcher until I die.

Speaking of dying, I’m a lot closer to that now than I was.

I’m at retirement age now, but I don’t want to do that just yet, I want to keep working for a little bit longer. By the way, I heard it through the grapevine that the body that was washed up on the shore last week was that of Jessica Ebadi… I wonder how that happened? (Yeah, I wonder…)

‘Operation Get Ash’ is going according to plan, thank goodness.

I’ve made friends with a cow mascot named Sally, who doesn’t like Ash at all, and she’s agreed to attempt to seduce him. They’re going out for a few ‘Let bygones by bygones’ drinks on Friday night, and of course, I’ll be there, lurking in the shadows with my trusty camera at the ready. It’s all going to plan so far, but there are quite a few things that can go wrong and all I can do is keep my fingers and toes crossed, and hope for a whole lot of good luck.

I haven’t been worrying about that all the time, though. I’ve also been building up friendships for when I’m able to start my conquests again once Ash has been taught a lesson he won’t ever forget, and, because of that, I usually have a different boy over for dinner each night, although the night before last, I had two boys over, Ashley Pitts and Joshua Ruben. I must admit, the salmon turned out better than I hoped, and I managed not to burn it.

I was going to recruit the two of them into ‘Operation Get Ash’, but after a few well-placed questions, I realized I couldn’t do that. Those two are rather loyal to their best friends, and A-Hole Ash happens to be one of said best friends. Bummer. I’ll definitely have to be incredibly careful now about what I do and say around these two, otherwise, I’ll have lost two prospective conquests.

It was mostly because of that little situation that I didn’t invite them over to dinner last night, and invited Carl Ying instead.

I couldn’t be bothered cooking salmon again, so I settled on pork chops instead. The best thing about it was that Carl doesn’t like Ash any more than I do, and he’s willing to do anything he can to help bring about Ash’s downfall.

Anyway, my last Sophomore exam is drawing closer, so I must dash!

(You’re right, Katie, angelic sim kids are a little dull!!)

Katie, ‘this lot’, as we termed it, will be finished as soon as Mr Popularity sim (who hasn’t been made yet) gets a visit from the Grim Reaper. I was only going to get them through college then forget them, but I decided to follow them through their sad little lives.

Well, hello there!

I don’t know why my mother insisted on calling me Josella, it’s such an odd name. Typical of mothers though, I suppose, and I prefer my name over hers. My maternal grandparents were Michael and Elizabeth Payne, and what do you think they named their only child? Deliverance. They named my mother Deliverance Payne. I bet she got teased about that while she was at school. My grandfolks must have thought it was a great joke, and you can understand why my Ma insists that people call her Del. Anyway, enough about my Ma.

I wasn’t intending on going to college, but my Ma scrimped and saved after Bucky Playton, my dad, got her pregnant then tookoff, you know, she worked so damn hard to get me here in the first place. I feel a little bad about it, because Ma wants me to a doctor, so I’m studying Biology, but I don’t want to be a doctor, I want to be an athlete. I know I’m going to have to tell her eventually, but I know it’ll upset her a great deal. Ma also wants me to come home after I graduate, but I don’t want that, either. I want a big house with statues and fountains, paintings and expensive furniture. Maybe I want to be rich because we were quite poor when I was a child.

I’ve met a few nice people since I’ve been here, people who don’t refer to me as ‘Raggedy Ann’, which has been a blessing. It wasn’t my fault, or my Ma’s, that we were poor, but the other kids in our town just don’t understand that. Or maybe they did understand, and they just enjoyed teasing me. But I’ll show them! They won’t think its so funny when I start making more money than they do!

Heck! I better run, or I’ll be late for my Freshman midterms!

Catch Ya!

(Well, there’s our Fortune sim underway. I want her to be rather materialistic, but not too greedy. Our Popularity sim will be underway in a few days, too. Also, is everbody happy with the little side-stories? They’re a doing great job of keeping the boredom at bay. Shall we start another round of voting when this lot’s finished?)